Rule #30
Before providing a list of common postbases in Nunavik Inuktitut, let’s introduce the notion of morphological productivity.
A productive postbase is a postbase that is used in the formation of new words. It is a living postbase.
A non-productive postbase is a postbase that it is not active in word-formation today. It is a dead postbase.
Examples
- Nextender /vik ‘big’ (Nuna–vik, kuu–vik)
- Vextender +niaq- ‘to busy oneself at’ (ilin–niaq-, niuvir–niaq-)
- Vmaker /ngu- ‘to feel an ache in’ (niaqu-ngu-, naa-ngu-)
Non-productive postbases should be learnt, but they don’t need to be represented in branching structures.